Commercial Union was urged as the basis of the proposed negotiation, on the ground that while a large majority might be secured for it, only a small minority favoured political union, but the sentiment of the Committee was so strong in favour of proposing at first Political Union, that it was impossible to contend with it. ERASTUS WIMAN. An attempt was made by Mr. Wiman to withdraw this message, but it failed, and it was published in two or three papers. The United States papers were for a year or two filled with articles discussing annexation, sometimes in friendly strains, sometimes in a most hostile spirit. President Cleveland's retaliation proclamation following closely the refusal of the United States Senate to confirm a treaty which had been agreed upon between Great Britain and the United States, was a direct threat against Canada, issued to the people of the Republic at a time likely to influence the result of the approaching Presidential election. On the 26th September, 1888, the Chicago _Tribune_ concluded a very aggressive article with these words: There are two ways in which Canada can protect herself from all possibility of a quarrel with this country about fish. One of these is by commercial union with the United States. The other is political union. If she is not ready for either, then her safety lies in not provoking the United States by unfair or unfriendly dealing, for when the provocation comes, Uncle Sam will reach out and take her in, in order to ensure quiet, and neither she nor her venerable old mother can prevent it. This paper about the same time had a cartoon depicting "The United States in 1900," showing Uncle Sam bestriding the whole North American continent. The New York _World_, in December, 1888, also published a map of North America to show what the United States would look like after Canada came in, and depicted our country divided up into twenty-eight new States and territories, and named to suit the Yankee taste. In connection with this map the _World_ published an interview with Senator Sherman, in which he advocated strenuously the annexation of Canada to the United States, saying that "the fisheries dispute and the question of the right of free transit of American goods over Canadian railroads are a type of the disputes that have vexed the two nations for a century, and will continue to disturb them as long as the present conditions exist. To get rid of these questions we must get rid of the frontier." In the descriptive article on the map everything that could help to excite the cupidity of the people of the United States was said and with great ability, and Professor Goldwin Smith was cited as declaring: